Full The Walking Dead Marathon to Begin on Independence Day

In 2013, AMC cannily hosted a marathon of all produced episodes of The Walking Dead over the Independence Day weekend. The event succeeded both as easy filler for a holiday known to be a ratings dead-zone and as a marketing push for the upcoming season of the horror series. This year, the network looks to be continuing the tradition with another marathon run of the show starting July 4th.

Announced via a press release, AMC will host the “Dead, White, and Blue” marathon beginning at 9 a.m. EST on Friday, July 4th. The network plans to air all four of The Walking Dead‘s seasons without interruption, culminating in a special episode of The Talking Dead at 9 p.m. Sunday, July 6th. As an incentive to watch until the bitter end, an exclusive preview of season 5 of the series will be shown during the capstone special.

In addition to the flood of episodes and the first trailer for the upcoming season, “Dead, White, and Blue” will also lead into a pair of hour-long documentaries about The Walking Dead.

The first and most basic of the two will be Inside The Walking Dead, a behind-the-scenes feature that explores the technical aspects of creating the show. Another – Inside The Walking Dead: Walker University – will focus on the training given to the series’ many, many faux-undead extras. While neither Inside The Walking Dead or Walker University will appear during the marathon, the documentaries will air on July 8th and 15th, respectively.

Last year’s The Walking Dead marathon proved a boon to AMC not only because of the convenience of stuffing an empty programming slot, but also as a way to begin cranking up the series’ hype machine. It also provides an ideal opportunity for the uninitiated to catch up on what remains the most popular television series on basic cable.

As such, we at Screen Rant highly encourage American fans of The Walking Dead to take some time out from their busy Independence Day holiday, pull back the recliner, crack a beer, and take in some zombie-related drama and ultraviolence. Just remember not to eat any barbecue handed to you by strangers. You never know what might actually be in it.

The Walking Dead will shamble back onto AMC for season 5 in fall 2014.